'In the wilderness of creativity, you find yourself'

Tag Archives: typography

It has been a long, long time since I posted here. This time of abnegation was not easy for me too but yesterday, in a moment of ‘self-forgetfulness’, I came up with this drawing and the message above entails the gyst of the story of my writer’s block. Once I discover I’m good at something or that people benefit from what I do, I start to lose the ‘involunary’ element of the act. It becomes a part of a sickening routine. The sublime aspect of writing is the sincerity of emotion and in this torpor, writing/blogging is a sin.

So…solution? First, I needed to clear my mind by leaving all problems to God. Then, I put myself in the present and notice what things make my heart excited about life. I needed to get the blog out of the comma so I started to explore myself this way. For instance, if I watched TV, I watched myself from outside to know what are the things that make my heart jump.

My work is only meaningful if it is connected to society in any way. Anything outside this set, holds no value for me. Doing things for the sole purpose of entertainment (like playing games online) just drains away spirit.

I just really dislike the way people say, ”I don’t know how I did this” after some big achievment. There’s always something- planning, hard work, sacrifice, self-control- that gets you the prize. Why do people say this, then? Do they forget their toil? It puzzles me. Paulo Coelho said that after you climb a mountain, tell your story to others because it serves as an inspiration but statements like ‘I don’t know how I did it’ are very misleading; for once, it gave me the impression that whatever you do, you will get what you want simply by having a strong desire for it because… as the person said he does not know his formula for success, there must be none and we just need to do what we think is our best. These kind of vague concepts get us nowhere- it leads to abject failure. I think I got a reality check that to achieve something, you need to

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” ~Havelock Ellis

Whenever I plan to refurbish myself, steer my lifestyle in a new direction, I confront the ever-present fear of becoming a monster. I once became a monster. Over confidence took over due to lack of maturity and humility, yet after two years of learning and mending my mistakes, the dormant monster frightens me. I read in a saying of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) that a ‘The believer does not allow to be stung twice from one (and the same) hole” . And this comforted me. If I keep my faith alive, I will never repeat that mistake. I am going to let go of the mistake and hold on to the change I want to bring. Help me, God.

We all enjoy doing the opposite of ‘wise’ but that is reckless. Choose boring, choose peace. Whenever you are in a new, bewildering scenario, an event that floods your brain and as you pass the mirror in your bedroom, in your bathroom, in the living room …. you pause for a second to talk to yourself. You start to think. You look at your eyes, your ears, your nose separately and focus, asking yourself: This is new for me, what do I do?